We've been loyal to Firefox with Firebug for browser development for over 6 years now. But there is a new tool out there that is tempting us to defect. IE11. Yeah, that's right. IE.

Since Microsoft released IE11 back in October, we got the few de rigueur emails from customers with broken features. (Sorry about that guys). It wasn't anything too serious, and we were able to get those issues sorted out within a couple hours. I must admit though, that we spend those hours cursing IE, assuming that this one would be nothing but trouble for developers, as most past releases since IE6. "Why even bother?" "I can't believe they're still trying".

In the meantime, we've been checking it out. Imagine our wonderment and delight, when we see the long-awaited "Inspect Element" upon a right-click. The F12 developer tools look really good. They're very fast. The whole browser is fast. There's a cool gridline overlay when you click on a div. This looks really promising! And it looks like we're not the only ones to think so: http://www.sitepoint.com/internet-explorer-11-review/. (Skip to "Innovations").

Meanwhile, back in Firefox, Firebug is increasingly slow. On my computer it is now taking up to 3 seconds to inspect an element. It's frustrating, but it's become part of the routine, and I've got the physical memory down pat. And then this quiet little thought reminds me: IE11. Oh yes, but all of my passwords are stored in Firefox. As I'm waiting my mind wanders back to IE11.

We talk in the office about it. Maybe we should give it a try. Yes, "browser lock-in" on Firefox is a significant barrier. It will take some time to transfer logins, sites and passwords into a new browser. But will moving stuff to IE11 take more time than Firefox speed issues waste? If IE11 is better, then after a month, or several, it will be worth it. And how will we know, unless we try?

So we're doing it. We are going to use IE11 for development for one week. And since it's Friday afternoon, that week starts Monday!

And please, don't mention Chrome.

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